This invention relates to gear drive apparatus, and particularly to a drive in which the speed of the output can be controlled by controlling the direction of rotation of the input.
There are applications for gear drives in which it is desired to have two output speeds and in which is cumbersome or impractical to use a shifting gear transmission to provide the different speeds. A typical application is a drive for a belt conveyor. It is most desirable to provide slow speeds for start up and for inspection and high speeds for normal operation. This has been accomplished by using a squirrel cage motor operating through a speed reducer gear drive with the motor providing the soft start up of the belt conveyor.
I have developed a gear drive unit which will provide different output speeds solely by controlling the direction of rotation of the input. The invention not only permits control of two speeds, but also allows for control within two speed ranges depending upon the direction and speed of the input.